Dr Yuanbo Tony Tang BEng, DPhil, CEng, FIMMM, FHEA

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 2599
Email: y.t.tang@bham.ac.uk

Address: IRC: Net Shape Manufacturing
School of Metallurgy and Materials
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Tang is an assistant professor at the School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham. He is based in the Net Shape Manufacturing building.

Dr Tang has a sustained interest in metallurgical science, especially in processing, micromechanics and design of high-performance structural materials. This involves nickel-based superalloys, titanium and other hcp alloys for aerospace, healthcare and energy applications.

His recent work on additive manufacturing involves the design and verification of new alloy compositions, decoding their phase transformation behaviour using multi-scale characterisation techniques and development of small-scale experimental mechanics. He works closely with many world-leading industrial firms and entrepreneurial companies, such as Rolls-Royce plc, TWI Ltd, MTU Aero Engines AG (Germany), Proterial (formerly Hitachi Metals Japan), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan), Alloyed, Plastometrex, etc.

Dr Tang is recruiting PhD students with a strong background and interest in all spectrum of physical metallurgy.

Qualifications

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), 2023
Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM), 2022
Chartered Engineer (CEng), 2021
DPhil in Materials, University of Oxford, 2018
BEng (Hons) in Materials Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, 2015

Biography

Dr Tang joined Birmingham as an assistant professor in Dec 2023. He received his bachelor’s degree from Imperial College reading Materials Science and Engineering in 2015. He continued his study at the University of Oxford and received his DPhil in 2018. His thesis explored a long established but not comprehensively studied subject in the superalloys field – grain boundary serrations – out of complete curiosity. He has discovered new mechanisms associated and established relevant quantification methodology and processing map. He has received the William R Miller Award from St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford and financial support from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) on industrial collaboration.

He then worked at Oxford during 2019-2023, initially appointed as a post-doctoral research assistant then promoted to a senior research fellow in mid-2022. During this time, he was supported by two Innovate UK projects to work closely with Alloyed Ltd on alloy design for additive manufacturing – a longstanding challenge. As a result, three generations of printable superalloys were successfully developed and made commercially available – two decades of improvement compared to best-then alloy. During this time, he was PI for two beamline experiments at Diamond Light Source synchrotron facility. He has also collaborated with MTU Aero Engines in Germany, Proterial (formerly Hitachi Metals) in Japan, National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Plastometrex in the UK on developing miniaturised mechanical testing methodologies.

Recently, he received funding as PI to lead a project for the Henry Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme. He and collaborators from Sheffield University and TWI Ltd have innovated a new coating strategy to prevent hydrogen embrittlement in pipeline steels. For his contributions, he has received the Chartered Engineer status and was elected as a Fellow at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Teaching

Dr Tang lectures the 3rd year module on 'Alloy and Microstructure Design', and also the Masters level module on 'Advanced Metallurgy and Manufacturing'.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Tang currently co-supervises five PhD students. He is additionally looking for PhD candidates in the following areas.

Metal additive manufacturing and related subjects
Multi-scale experimental mechanics in extreme environment (including hydrogen)
Design and development of new structural alloys
Interdisciplinary research involving one or more areas above.

Other activities

Visiting Academic to the University of Oxford (since Dec 2023)
Academic consultant to Shimane University via the NEXTA project (Oct 2021-Apr 2023)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Zhuge, Y, Tang, YT, McCartney, DG, Lozano-Perez, S & Reed, RC 2026, 'Characterization of γ′ Precipitation Kinetics in Additively Manufactured Ni-Based Superalloy ABD^®-900AM', Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 2124-2138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-025-08081-z

Alqarni, AA, Alshammari, TT, Megahed, M, Tang, YT & Attallah, MM 2026, 'Cracking suppression in powder bed fusion-laser beam of CM247LC Ni-based superalloy', Materials and Design, vol. 266, 116129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2026.116129

Tang, YT, Schwalbe, C, Brunthaler, J, Reed, RC & Utada, S 2026, 'Miniature Mechanical Testing to Infer Damage from Accidental and Complex Thermal Exposure for Single Crystal Superalloys', Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 1766-1779. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-025-08096-6

Klupś, P, Jenkins, BM, Chekhonin, P, Douglas, JO, Carter, M, Tang, YT, Hyde, JM, Riddle, N, Bagot, PAJ & Moody, MP 2026, 'On the solute segregation to grain boundaries in SA508 steel', Journal of Materials Science and Technology, vol. 270, pp. 163-173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2026.01.027

Ball, JAD, Collins, DM, Tang, YT, Wright, JP, Yildirim, C, Richter, J & Chen, Y 2026, 'Revealing 3D strain and carbide architectures in additively manufactured Ni superalloys', Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77198-5

Miquel, MZ, Utada, S, Tang, YT, Sato, A, Green, NR & Reed, RC 2026, 'Strain Rate-Dependent Deformation Mechanisms in CMSX-4 at 800 °C: Insights from Full-Field Optical Extensometry', Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 1780-1793. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-025-08098-4

Yu, Y, Han, Q, Tang, YT, Rui, S-S, Shi, H & Cui, H 2026, 'The effect of solution treatment temperature on the fretting fatigue of additively manufactured superalloys', International Journal of Fatigue, vol. 205, 109421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2025.109421

Pham, AH, Takemoto, M, Kodera, K, Utada, S, Tang, YT, Wakabayashi, H, Morito, S, McCartney, DG, Rae, CM & Reed, RC 2026, 'Uncovering the Mechanism of Recrystallization in a Single-Crystal Superalloy: The Role of Porosity and Localized Strain in Nucleation', Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 1752-1765. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-025-08085-9

Tang, YT, Zhang, Y, Wan, L, Kuek, N, Alabort, E & Reed, RC 2025, 'Architected superalloys: A pathway to lightweight high temperature materials', Scripta Materialia, vol. 260, 116598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116598

Casata, M, Perosanz, S, Tang, T, Wilkinson, T, Reed, RC & Barba, D 2025, 'Evaluation of the size and orientation-dependent mechanical properties of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V: The role of microstructure, defects, and surface roughness and its implications for lattice structures', Results in Engineering, vol. 27, 106781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2025.106781

Han, Q, Zhao, S, Tang, YT, Lu, Z, Lopez, MA, Li, A, Cui, H & Reed, RC 2025, 'FCC/B2 phase boundary variant-sensitive fatigue cracking in a eutectic high entropy alloy at high temperature', International Journal of Plasticity, vol. 185, 104223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijplas.2024.104223

Zhang, R, Zhang, JS, Wang, W, Tang, YT, Jiang, J, Reed, RC & Lin, J 2025, 'Mechanistic insights and kinetics of continuous and geometric dynamic recrystallisation in hot deformed aluminium alloy', Acta Materialia, vol. 289, 120893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2025.120893

Wu, Y, Tang, YT, Barras, J & Shinjo, J 2025, 'Understanding extreme high-speed laser material deposition: Characterisation, modelling and bonding mechanisms', Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 511, 132218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132218

Review article

Koko, A, Kareem, SA, Olanrewaju, OF, Williams, R, Anaele, JU, Tang, YT & Roebuck, B 2027, 'Direct current thermo-mechanical testing: principles, uncertainty hierarchy, and its role in advanced materials characterisation', Progress in Materials Science, vol. 165, 101823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2026.101823

Rabbitt, D, Villapún, VM, Carter, LN, Man, K, Lowther, M, O'Kelly, P, Knowles, AJ, Mottura, A, Tang, YT, Luerti, L, Reed, RC & Cox, SC 2025, 'Rethinking Biomedical Titanium Alloy Design: A Review of Challenges from Biological and Manufacturing Perspectives', Advanced Healthcare Materials, vol. 14, no. 4, 2403129. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202403129

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